BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHINA On Sunday, March 2, 2008, the day after the ninth grade play closed, most of the 9th Grade – along with teachers Deb Riding, Sheila Lavey, Lynne Valentine and John Climie – embarked on a 12-day China expedition. • In Hong Kong, the group viited an ancestral village, a Buddhist temple, a Taoist temple and saw the famous Victoria's Peak. • They then flew to the city of Changsha in Hunan province to visit Yali Middle School. There, they reunited with Li Yu (this year's guest teacher) and the students who visited Foote last fall and meet their e-pals. They also enjoyed a two-night home stay with a Yali student and family, sat in on • The students then flew to Xi'an where they saw the famous Terra Cotta Warriors, visited City Wall and went to the Great Mosque, the oldest in China. • Next, the group boarded an overnight train to Beijing, where they spent the remainder of their trip learning more about Chinese culture and history and visited the Forbidden City, The Great Wall of China and Tiananmen Square. For entries from each day of the trip, click here. Yali Middle School Visits Foote From September 20 to October 3 a delegation of 22 students from Foote's sister school, Yali Middle School in Chanagsha, China visited Foote, attending classes and getting to know the school. The students all stayted with Foote families, just as Foote students have stayed with Yali familes in China. Click here for the New haven Register's story on the visit. Foote in China "On behalf of the Foote School community, I want to say thank you to Principal Liu, the faculty, parents and students of Yali Middle School for your hospitality, generosity and kindness. We are honored to be visiting you and learning about your wonderful school. Our two schools have begun a journey together in which we are bridging cultures and strengthening global awareness – we are honored to be your partner. The famous American educator John Dewey said; that each of us is a student and each of us is a teacher. Thank you for the opportunity to teach and learn from each other. This is a wonderful beginning!" - Head of School David Feldman, on signing a protocol of agreement with Yali Middlde School, March 10, 2006. The Foote School has participated in a teacher exchange with schools Tours and activities for the group in Hong Kong, Changsha and More significantly, the two schools also signed a formal protocol that In Beijing, the group climbed the Great Wall, visited Tienanmen Square, toured the Forbidden City, went horseback riding on the grasslands and stopped at the zoo to visit the pandas. Students and faculty all reported that they ate and ate and ate (the food was incredible) and even lost weight. The diet of meats and vegetables with very few carbs and sweets was very healthy. The Foote travelers all felt the trip openend new windows on the world, and their favorite part was getting to know their peers at Yali. How It All Began Foote’s international partnerships began when Henry Fan approached the Yale-China Association in 1998 with the idea of a U.S.-China Established in 1901, the Yale-China Association is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote mutual understanding between Chinese and Americans through teaching and service. They suggested Mr. Fan meet with then head of School Jean Lamont and together, working with staff from Yale-China, they began to develop a program that brought teachers annually from Huizhen to teach at Foote for a semester and allowed Foote teachers to travel to China and teach at Hiuzhen. Student Travel Begins In 2004, thanks to a foundation grant that provided funding so the trip could be made available to all ninth graders, eight pioneer students, with teachers Hannah Leckman and Adam Soloman, visited Huizhen Academy over spring vacation. A New Connection: Yali Middle School Starting in 2005, Foote began an exchange with a middle school founded in Changsha in 1906 by Yale. Yali (an early Chinese |
PHOTO GALLERIES March 2006
Spring 1999 Fall 1998 Chinese Exchange Participants: Foote Exchange
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classes and participated in school activities, including a basketball game nad a break dancing contect. While in Changsha, they also visited the 1,000-year-old Yuelu Academy of Classical Learning. 
in China since 1999, and 2007 marked the fourth consecutive year that Foote ninth graders have traveled to China themselves to experience another culture first-hand. This March, the entire ninth grade travelled to China with Middle School Head Gail Brad, and teachers Oliver Morris and Deb Riding. For details, 
Beijing were planned in consultation with the Foote history department and our fall Chinese exchange teacher from Yali, Wang Can.After two days in Hong Kong the Foote delegation flew to Changsha, Hunang Provence to visit our sister school, Yali Middle School. They had overnight home visits with Yali student hosts and presented a banner to Yali signed by the entire Foote community commemorating Foote's 90th anniversary and Yali's 100th. 
teacher exchange program. He envisioned a link between Huizhen Academy, the independent elementary school he had founded four years earlier in Ningbo and an American elementary school. 
transliteration of "Yale") Middle School was known throughout China in the first half of the century for the quality of its instruction. In 1951, the municipal government took over administration of the school, moved it to its present 17-acre campus in the center of the city, and changed its name to the Changsha Number Five Middle School. In 1985, with the re-establishment of relations with Yale-China and with the support of its Chinese alumni, the school was renamed and is once again known as Yali Middle School. Yali is a "key" secondary school, receiving priority in funding and faculty recruitment. Yale-China currently sends four Fellows to teach at Yali Middle School each year.